4.2.4

Human & Social Factors Affecting Development

Test yourself

Political and Social Causes of Global Inequalities

The following economic and political factors are likely to cause global inequalities:

Illustrative background for Poor international relationsIllustrative background for Poor international relations ?? "content

Poor international relations

  • Poor international relations means that a country may have to pay a higher interest rate on its debt or that it may not be able to borrow at all.
  • The USA offered lots of countries free money for development under the Marshall Plan after World War 2. However, this was informally tied to being a democratic, capitalist society.
  • Countries like the Ivory Coast have received debt relief in the last few decades, whereas other countries have growing debts.
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Poor systems of governance

  • Development under authoritarian governments or dictatorships can be good (China since 1980) or bad (Venezuela since 2017 or Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe).
  • The countries in Eastern Europe and the Baltic were very poor when they were part of the communist USSR. Communism's destruction of incentives to innovate or do anything new has historically led to lower incomes than in capitalist societies.
  • Corrupt government or institutions can also slow development.
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Education and brain drain

  • Sometimes, there is a brain drain from developing countries to developed countries. This is when the best-educated people (usually with university degrees) try to live and work in a developed country.
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Climate and health institutions

  • Diseases like cholera and malaria can be more likely to happen in some climates. However, a government or social culture can make their spread more likely (e.g. bad healthcare system).
  • If people are dying from malaria and cholera, this affects development and could lead to even more brain drain.
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Tourism

  • Kenya is in East Africa. In 2000, its GNI per capita was $800. In 2019, it was $1,200. Kenya used tourism to help grow it to develop.
  • Tourism can help a country grow.
  • Tourism is now 15% of Kenya's exports and has created 1.1 million jobs in Kenya.
  • Having beaches and wildlife that tourists want to visit can affect development.

Jump to other topics

1Geography Skills

2Geology of the UK

3Geography of the World

4Development

5Weather & Climate

6The World of Work

7Natural Resources

8Rivers

9Coasts

10Glaciers

11Tectonics

12Climate Change

13Global Population & Inequality

14Urbanisation

15Ecosystems

16Life in an Emerging Country

17Analysis of Africa

18Analysis of India

19Analysis of the Middle East

20Analysis of Bangladesh

21Analysis of Russia

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